Historical Information

Purdue University established a department of education in 1908. The creation was the University's response to a 1907 Indiana state law mandating that all new teachers have professional education of at least 12 semester hours.

For the first six years of its existence, Purdue's education department was comprised solely of one person. George L. Roberts boasted 27 years of experience in the state's public schools, beginning as a one-room schoolteacher and going on to become superintendent of schools in Greensburg, Frankfort, and Muncie. At Purdue, Roberts was a professor of industrial education, and he was a solo act until 1914, when, thanks to the Vocational Act of 1913, the University could afford to hire more faculty members.

For the next 75 years, various units at Purdue housed education faculty, including the Division of Education and Applied Psychology and the School of Humanities, Social Science, and Education. In 1989, Purdue officially created the School of Education. In 2005, Purdue renamed the School of Education to the College of Education.

Citation:

A Century and Beyond: The History of Purdue University; A University of Tradition: The Spirit of Purdue; and Facts at Your Fingertips, 2002-03.

Retrieved January 14, 2011 from: http://www.education.purdue.edu/about_us/history_mission.html

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